Menachem Stark’s attacker found guilty of kidnapping, murder

A Brooklyn court found Kendel Felix guilty of kidnapping and killing landlord and developer Menachem Stark during a snowstorm in 2014.

Stark was abducted outside his Williamsburg office and suffocated inside a minivan when one of his attackers sat on him. His scorched body was found in a dumpster near a Long Island gas station two days later.

Felix, a construction worker who worked on Stark’s properties, was the driver of the minivan, prosecutors said. He was convicted on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Felix confessed to his part in the murder and said he could implicate at least two other accomplices. He told police his cousin orchestrated the attempted shakedown, and that Stark’s death was an accident.

There have been no additional charges or arrests against the alleged accomplices but the DA’s office said the investigation was still ongoing, the New York Daily News reported.

Stark, a member of the Samar community and a father of seven, was remembered as both a “reputed slumlord” and a “pillar of his community” after his death. He was an active developer in the Williamsburg-Greenpoint area with a spotty reputation, and was millions of dollars in debt at the time of his death.

After the verdict, Stark’s family told the Daily News that it was an emotional day, and that they hoped to see the rest of the killers brought to justice. [NYDN] — Chava Gourarie